As part of the UWE Regional History Centre and M Shed Seminar Programme 2012-13, Dr Brendan Smith, Reader in History at the University of Bristol, presents a talk entitled: "Bristol and West: Medieval perspectives on Bristol's Welsh and Irish connections".

Interest in Bristol's historic connections with other places has centred on Bordeaux and Gascony in the Middle Ages, and in more recent times on Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. Less well understood are the strong and varied links that the Bristol region has enjoyed over the centuries with Wales and Ireland.

Edmund Burke is perhaps the most famous Irishman associated with Bristol, but he was hardly the first. If St Patrick really did reside at Banwell when he was brought as a slave to Ireland in the fifth century, then he may stand as a suitable symbol of a relationship between this part of England and the countries immediately to its west that was often turbulent and yet ultimately fruitful.